In the days following 9/11, the formerly obscure Canadian Islamic
Congress (CIC) made a name for itself with fiery denunciations of Israel,
the United States and the war against terrorism. For a while, the group
remained a media darling, eagerly sought out by Canadian journalists
looking to report the Muslim point of view. But last year, the group was
marginalized when its president, Mohamed Elmasry, declared his support for
terrorist attacks against Israeli adults during a televised appearance.
(His theory was that since many Israelis are subject to reserve army duty,
they are all combatants.)

But the organization is still around. We know this because, like many
journalists, we regularly receive the CIC's "Friday bulletins." These
e-mail messages typically consist of clippings from left-wing publications
such as Britain's Guardian. But they also contain original essays from CIC
officers. A notable example is last Friday's vicious article, Hitler, Bush
and the Big Lie, by CIC vice-president Wahida Valiante. Since there are
still some who take the CIC seriously as a mainstream ethnic lobby, we
believe her claims demand a rebuttal.

Hitler, Bush and the Big Lie, adapted from an article first circulated
by the CIC in 2003, follows in the group's usual pattern by laying the
blame for the world's Muslims on Jews -- oops, sorry, "Zionists" -- and
their media minions. But Ms. Valiante goes further. The Zionists, she
claims, are waging a propaganda war that is worthy of -- indeed, copied
from -- Adolf Hitler. And like the Nazis, she suggests, they threaten to
take us down the road of "genocide, ethnic cleansing, occupation, invasion
and war" in Iraq, Israel and elsewhere.

The CIC's timing wasn't good: The day before last week's bulletin was
circulated, Iraq's National Assembly created the first freely elected
government in Iraqi history. One would think a group calling itself the
Canadian Islamic Congress would applaud such a development -- not to
mention the liberation of 20 million Iraqis from a murderous despot. But
the CIC is so full of paranoia at the machinations of "Zionists" that
these milestones are ignored in the group's communiques. As Ms. Valiante
apparently sees it, democracy in Iraq, the Palestinian Authority,
Afghanistan and other parts of the Muslim world is just a cloak for a Nazi
agenda.

If we're picking on Ms. Valiante, well, at least what we write is
truthful. Compare this to the various otherworldly claims in Ms.
Valiante's own screed -- such as that well-respected U.S. Middle Eastern
scholar (and occasional National Post contributor) Daniel Pipes seeks to
"ethnically cleanse America of its Muslim presence" -- a vicious calumny
that Ms. Valiante plucked from thin air.

Closer to home, consider her assault on "noted Zionist" Israel Asper.
As Ms. Valiante sees it, the late Mr. Asper is a student of Hitler's
propaganda techniques. Her proof? The CanWest media founder wrote in July,
1999, that militant Islam "has the power to do mischief." Six months after
Mr. Asper wrote those words, Canadian terrorist Ahmed Ressam tried to
enter the United States to bomb Los Angeles Airport. Less than two years
later, 19 Islamists would kill 3,000 people. Assuming one agrees that this
qualifies as "mischief," we'd say Mr. Asper should be singled out more for
his prescience than his hatefulness.

Putting aside Ms. Valiante and her poisonous column, there is a larger
issue at stake here. Canada is home to hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
And like every religious and ethnic group, they deserve to have their
views promoted fairly and effectively. But so long as their most prominent
organization makes excuses for terrorism and distributes harmful,
fallacious propaganda, that will be a difficult task.